


A Certain Power

by FifteenDozenTimes



Category: Beyond Belief - Fandom, The Thrilling Adventure Hour
Genre: Angst, Gen, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Tumblr ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-05-01 11:52:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5204864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FifteenDozenTimes/pseuds/FifteenDozenTimes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt "The companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Certain Power

Father Lancaster speaks a lot about gifts. The obvious ones, gifts from the Heavenly Father, life and health and talents and service and all the normal sermon blather. But in the quiet, alone, during training, he still talks about gifts - the gifts he’s giving Frank and the others by making them into what he’s making them into.

Frank believes it, for a time; if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have become what he is. When he stopped believing it, he spent most of the time he used to spend reflecting to try and figure out whether Father Lancaster believes it himself. Is he a spiritual leader, genuinely trying to do good in the world, passing on the gifts he’s been blessed with to create a better, less dangerous world?

Or is he a monster, creating monsters, blessed merely with a gift for finding people he can exert his influence over?

Frank decided which was true the night Catherine died, when he walked away and didn’t look back. 

Still, whether his cause was benevolent or not, Father Lancaster did manage to leave Frank with a few things he understands, even when he can’t bring himself to be generous, are gifts. He has his fighting skills, all the disciplines he learned from the Father and the nuns, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the weaknesses and soft spots of nearly every malevolent being he might encounter, and he has, always, his motive.

“To kill a demon is no small feat,” Father Lancaster said, often. “Not everyone can do it. You need, Francis, to never forget why you do what you do, to be able to steel yourself with the Glory of God before you land your final blow.”

Frank doesn’t care much for the glory of anyone, but the last thing he sees, before he’s the last thing any demon sees, does the trick of rendering him capable of horrific violence.

Frank sees Peter.


End file.
